US2967731A

US2967731A - Suction pick-up head

Info

Publication number: US2967731A
Application number: US687160A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard L Swartz
Original assignee: Universal Business Machines Inc
Current assignee: Universal Business Machines Inc
Priority date: 1957-09-30
Filing date: 1957-09-30
Publication date: 1961-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1978-01-10

Description

Jan. 10, 1961 R. L. swAR z SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD Filed Sept. 50, 195-7 WNZIIZCIJTOR. 34% a. 45:1

United States Patent M SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD Richard L. Swartz, Columbia, S.C., assignor to Universal Business Machines, Iuc., Columbia, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina .Filed Sept. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 687,160

6 Claims. (Cl. 294-64) This invention relates to a device for picking up documents, one at a time, from the top of a stack of documents. The term documents as used herein refers to sheet-like material or articles generally, such as checks, vouchers, receipts, paper money, and the like.

While not limited to such use, this invention is especially useful in document-sorting machines of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,668,706 issued to Le Roy J. Benson, and a specific application of the invention to a sorting machine of this type is disclosed in my copending application entitled Suction- Head Document Feeder filed jointly with William D. I-Iighsmith.

An object of the invention is to devise a pick-up head involving a suction nozzle for lifting the uppermost document from a stack under suction action.

A further object of the invention is to devise a pick-up head of the suction type which not only lifts the document from the stack, but buckles the document under suction action to aid in separating the top document from the next lower document.

A specific embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the entire pickup head or device;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the lower end of the suction nozzle on a considerably enlarged scale with respect to Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the enlarged head on the suction nozzle; and

Figure 4 is a view of the enlarged head on the suction nozzle as seen from the right of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawing, the section head is formed of a suction tube having a horizontal shank section 1 and a nozzle section 2 extending downwardly from section 1. The lower end of nozzle section 2 is provided with an enlarged head 3 which is shown substantially full size in Figure l and is shown on a larger scale and in greater detail in Figures 2 to 4.

The shank section 1 is provided for the purpose of mounting the pick-up head for relative movement with respect to a stack of documents so that the tip of the nozzle may be moved into contact with the uppermost document to remove the document from the stack and then moved to transfer the document to a location adjacent to the stack. Such mounting arrangement forms no part of the present invention, but a suitable arrangement is disclosed in my copending application referred to above.

The tip or head of the nozzle is enlarged with respect to the tube section 2 for the purpose of having the nozzle cover a relatively large area of the document and thereby spread the air stream over a larger area to increase the pull on the document. The enlarged head or tip of the nozzle is formed of a cup-shaped part 3 mounted at the lower end of tube section 2 and having an enlarged bore 3a which forms an enlarged extension of the bore in tube section 2. The open end of the member 3 is covered by 2,967,731 Patented Jan. 10, 1961 a flat plate 4, which plate is provided with an aperture 4a displaced from the center of the plate towards one side of the plate, in the manner shown in Figure 3. It is preferred that the aperture 4a shall be an elongated aperture with its major axis arranged parallel with the axis of the shank portion 1, but displaced to one side of the common plane containing the axes of tube sections 1 and 2. Thus, in Figure 3 the broken line 1a represents the common plane containing the axes of tube sections 1 and 2, and the broken line 4a represents the major axis of the aperture 4a. The outer face of plate 4, in the area 4b in Figure 3, and located between the lower edge of aperture 4a and the bottom edge portion of the plate, is smoothly rounded as shown in Fig. 4 to provide a rounded surface for engaging the top of the stack with the nozzle tilted at different angles. For greatest pick-up eflfect, the nozzle would be lowered into pick-up position with the lower face of the head 3 parallel with the top of the stack, and this would be the position of operation to pick up heavy paper. For use in connection with relatively thin paper, the nozzle would be lowered into pick-up position with the tube section 2 tilted about the axis of shank section 1 so that the rounded portion 4b is lowermost and would engage the top of the stack. The initial amount of pull on the top document can be varied by varying the angle of tilt of the nozzle, thereby varying the angle of the bottom face of plate 4 with respect to the top of the stack.

For the purpose of aiding in the separation of the top document from the next lower one, the plate 4 is milled or otherwise formed to provide a shallow groove 40 covering substantially all of the area above the aperture 4a as seen in Figure 3 and extending at right angles to the major axis of the aperture. It will be understood that as the suction of the nozzle pulls the top document into contact with the lower face of plate 4, the document is buckled upwardly into contact with the cylindrically curved surface of the shallow groove 40. This buckling action serves to ensure positive separation of the top document from the next lower one, especially in the case of heavy paper stock.

For use in connection with light paper stock, a second groove 4d with a cylindrically curved bottom is formed at the bottom of the groove 4c. As shown in Figure 2, this groove 4d has a much shorter radius of curvature than the shallow groove 40 and is of considerably smaller width than the groove 40. This will result in greater buckling of thin paper into the groove 4d.

For the purpose of further aiding the pick-up and buckling action, a third groove 4e is formed at the bottom of groove 4d. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, this groove is relatively narrow with respect to the other grooves and is provided with parallel sides and a sloping bottom which increases in depth from substantially zero near the outer edge of the plate 4 to substantially the full depth of the plate at the edge of aperture 4a. In Figure 4 the dotted line 40' and 4d represent the bottoms of

grooves

4c and 4d, respectively, while the slanting line 40' represents the bottom of groove 40.

What I claim is:

l. A suction pick-up head comprising a tube, a fiat wall member secured to and lying across the mouth of said tube and having an aperture formed therein, said wall having a shallow cylindrical groove no wider than the aperture formed in the outer face thereof extending from the outer edge of said wall, and terminating at the nearest rim portion of the aperture, a second cylindrical groove formed in the outer face of said flat wall at the bottom of said shallow cylindrical groove and having a shorter radius of curvature than said shallow groove and coextensive therewith.

2. A pick-up head comprising a tube formed of a shank section and a nozzle section extending v.at right.

angles to the shank section, an enlarged head at the end of said nozzle section and having a rigid flat end wall having ,an aperture formed therein adjacentone side of said head, said aperture being displaced to one-side of the'commoir plane-containing the axes of-said shank section and said nozzle section, andsaid end .wall'having a shallowcylindrical groove no wider than said aperture.

formed in the outer face thereof at right angles tosaid plane extending from the oppositeside of said head and terminating at the rim of, the aperture closest to said opposite side, said end wall being provided with a second cylindrical groove formed in: the outer face thereofwat.

the bottom of said shallow cylindrical groove and having a shorter radius of curvature than said shallow groove and coextensive therewith.

3. A pick-up head according-to claim vl wherein said' fiat wall is provided with a narrowparallel-sided groove formed in the outer face thereof at the bottom: of said second cylindrical groove and increasing in depth from near the outer edge of said wall to' the rim of said aperture.

4. A pick-up head according to claim 2Iwherein said' end wall is provided with a narrow parallel-sidedgroove formed in the outer face thereof at the bottom of said second..cylindricaligroove and increasing in depth, from near the edge of said head to the rim of said aperture.

5. A pick-up head according to claim 2 wherein said aperture is an elongated aperture having its major axis parallel with the axis of said shank section.

6. A pick-up head according to claim 5 wherein the outer edge portion of the face of said enlarged head is smoothly rounded from theouter edge of said elongated aperture to the outer peripheral edge of said head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 696,186 Orlofi' Mar. 25, 1902 740,534 Cleathero Oct. 6, 1903 783,206 Juengst Feb. 21, 1905 1,252,280 McDonald Jan. 1, 1918 1,278,105 Campbell Sept. 10, 1918 1,495,881 Bunger May 27, 1924 1,562,557 Henderson Nov. 24, 1925 1,737,401- Atzert Nov. 26, 1929 1,791,760 Kline Feb. 10, 1931 2,128,200 Allen Aug. 23, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 282,352. Germany Feb. 26, 1915